WhatsApp lets you encrypt your chat history end-to-end!

Users will now be able to end-to-end encrypt chat backups in iCloud or Google Drive.

WhatsApp, which has encrypted chats end-to-end until now, now brings end-to-end encryption to chat history backups. Users will now be able to end-to-end encrypt chat backups in iCloud or Google Drive.

Why did WhatsApp develop this feature?
With this feature, WhatsApp closes a huge gap that governments take advantage of to scrutinize private communication between individuals. Articles written by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-governmental organization established with a focus on digital privacy, brought this issue to the agenda.

Law enforcement agencies around the world were able to access private communication between suspicious people on WhatsApp by exploiting this vulnerability. At this point, naturally, the issue of who was seen as a suspect brought along the problems of freedom of expression and confidentiality.

WhatsApp, which hosts more than 100 billion messages a day, closes this gap and offers the encryption feature to its 2 billion users. At this point, let's say that the new feature will actively work in every market where the application is running. Additionally, the company states that end-to-end encryption of backups is optional.

How does the feature of encrypting backups work?
WhatsApp has developed a system on Android and iOS to allow WhatsApp users to lock their chat backups with encryption keys.

Users are faced with the option to generate a 64-digit encryption key to protect their chat backups in the cloud. At this point, the company offers users two ways to encrypt their cloud backups.

Users can store the encryption key offline or in a password manager of their choice. Another option is to create a passphrase that backs up encryption keys in a cloud-based "backup key vault" developed by WhatsApp.

In the meantime, it should be noted that the encryption key stored in the cloud cannot be used without the user's password. Therefore, we can say that WhatsApp does not have access to any encryption keys. Testing the feature since last month, WhatsApp has prioritized users' privacy needs. It even received praise from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.